Newcastle United will host Tyne-Wear derby rivals Sunderland at St James Park later this month.

A home game with arch rivals Sunderland will round off what will be a potentially decisive period of the season for Eddie Howe and his Newcastle United squad.

The Magpies will face Premier League rivals Manchester United at St James Park on Wednesday night before turning their focus towards Saturday night’s FA Cup fifth round home tie against Manchester City. A third home game in six days comes when La Liga giants Barcelona arrive on Tyneside for the first leg of a Champions League round of 16 tie and that is followed by a visit to Chelsea on Saturday week.

There is little respite for the Magpies as they travel to Barcelona for the second leg of the Champions League tie on Wednesday, March 18 before all focus will go on the Tyne-Wear derby at St James Park four days later. That will present United with an opportunity to avenge the narrow defeat they suffered against the Black Cats earlier in the season.

As it stands ahead of Wednesday’s meeting with Manchester United, Sunderland are sitting four points above the Magpies after they secured a hard earned win at Leeds United - but the Black Cats have a number of injury concerns that have put a question mark over the availability of two players ahead of the trip to Tyneside. Head coach Regis Le Bris has revealed he will ‘have to wait’ for news on goalkeeper Robin Roefs after he missed the win at Elland Road with a hamstring injury and there are now fears winger Bertrand Traore may well miss the game at St James Park.

Wait and see

placeholder image — Regis Le Bris. | Getty Images.

Speaking after the game, Le Bris said of the injury to Roefs: “It's not clear at the minute [exactly how long he’ll be out for] because it will be symptoms-based. It might be two, maybe three weeks. We'll see for Newcastle, we'll see, we'll have to wait.“

Le Bris also confirmed Traore may have suffered a recurrence of a knee injury after he was forced out of the action in second-half injury time just minutes after replacing Angulo. One player that will definitely miss the short trip to St James Park is January signing Jocelin Ta Bi as Le Bris revealed the winger has undergone surgery on a knee injury he picked up in the recent defeat against Fulham and is now set to be out of action for ‘10 to 12 weeks’.

Which Newcastle United players are set to miss the Tyne-Wear derby with Sunderland?

Eddie Howe and Bruno Guimaraes. | Getty Images.

Newcastle also have some injury concerns ahead of the derby and two key players have already been ruled out of the game. Captain Bruno Guimaraes and experienced defender Fabian Schar are not expected to return from respective hamstring and ankle injuries until next month. However, there is some positive news for Howe after he confirmed Tino Livramento is close to a return from injury and newly-crowned North East Football Writers Young Player of the Year Lewis Miley has revealed he is expecting to return for the first leg of the Champions League tie with Barcelona and that would put him in contention to face Sunderland.

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